Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (2022) Review

June 23, 2023July 2, 2023 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Before we begin our main computer is currently under repair so the next series of reviews will be created on mobile, this may have some issues with image size and placement and also embedded videos, however this will be fixed as soon as we get the computer back from our insurer

Thankyou for your understanding and please enjoy!

In 2022 videogame developers Monkey Craft created the Phantasy Reverie Series a collection of two remastered videogames starring a long forgotten Bandai/Namco Mascot called Klonoa.

The Klonoa series was created by Namco in 1997 for the characters first debut platformer for the Playstation 1, Klonoa is a dream traveler who is brought into corrupted dreams to the darkness which is taking over them.

There are four original Klonoa games but since this collection only contains the two home console games those are the only ones we will discuss, we will review the two original games before discussing the remakes and the differences they offer.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (1997)

This classic PS1 adventure game takes place in the dream world of Phantomile, Klonoa and his friend Huepow go to investigate an crashed aircraft on a nearby mountain called Bell Hill. When they arrive they discover a dark figure named Ghadius along with his Jester Joka.

The two villains are seeking out a Moon Pendant, the pendant can be used to to transfigure Phantomile into a Nightmare, Ghadius has also kidnapped the Diva Lephise who is the only being that can sing a song of rebirth to undo this new nightmare world.

After discussing his findings with his grandfather Klonoa and Huepow are sent to travel the dream world to find new allies to help learn more about the Pendant and prevent Ghadius and Joka from successfully pulling off their plan.

The game is a 2.5D platformer which means that while it plays similar to a traditional 2D platforming adventure the environments are rendered in 3D allowing an interactive background and foreground while still moving from left to right on a 2D Plain.

The Super Nintendo Game Yoshi’s Island or the successor Yoshi’s Story are more recognisable examples of games which used a similar playing style at the time.

In Klonoa using your wind whip to collect enemies is absolutely essential to progressing through stages, not only can these enemies be used to take out other enemies but you also need them to perform a double jump an essential ability that is necessary in order to successfully get through each stage.

The game takes advantage of its tricky mechanics to add puzzles to its platforming, at times more difficult jump combos are needed by perfectly timing enemy grabs and bounces too get across large gaps, other areas will need Klonoa to find a key in order to progress.

For less complicated gaps a basic flutter can help with temporary hovering, this ability Klonoa has access too without the need of his wind whip so you may find yourself using it more often than intended.

Overall I would argue that Klonoa was fairly easy as a platformer, this was my first playthrough and I reached the final boss with around 25 lives, there was once or twice when trying to transfer the double jump across multiple enemies where it became difficult to get the timing right but apart from that this is a pretty good platformer for beginners.

Visually the game takes advantage of the PS1 limitations by using a more cartoony art style with a bright colour pallet and giving characters and objects enhanced features allowing a truly original and unique style that captures the dream like setting of the games narrative.

The game traditional sprite art for characters but still used polygon graphics for objects and backgrounds another chose that gave this particular title some unique visuals that helped it to stand out.

The soundtrack while far from one of my favourites of the PS1 is very catchy and enjoyable, the game does a good enough job with its soundtrack that each tune fits the environment and is not anyway annoying. The soundtrack is absolutely fine but there just isn’t anything about it that stands out.

9.2/10

Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil (2001)

Klonoa is back and this time around he is not accompanied by Huepow but his two new friends a priestess in training called Lolo and her companion Popka an unusual creature who has some similar features to a dog.

The three friends are summoned by the monk Baguji who tells them about special bells which if rang would causes chaos in the land of Lunatea, of course we have a new antagonist now named Leorina a Sky Pirate who wants to bring sorrow leading to Klonoa and co having to save the day.

It seems a little silly to go into deep discussion over elements which were brought over from the last game so I will briefly state this is once again a 2.5d platformer and basic gameplay such as grabbing enemies in order to double jump and throw has returned. However what this game does have is some new stuff which enhances the gameplay we have seen previously.

The biggest update has got to be the variety of enemy types which appear, offering Klonoa access to new and temporary abilities. A lot of these also tie into puzzle solving, something I really appreciated in this sequel.

By grabbing certain enemies Klonoa will need to use them to gain access to inaccessible areas. A new flying power can be useful for reaching high-up areas, a bomb can be used for blowing up giant rocks and new light enemy can be used to chain attack bad guys in order to increase your light power and destroy coloured crystals.

New level stages in the form of really fun snowboarding segments which rely on quick player reactions in order to avoid obstacles and collect any items.

Boss fights have been amped up a little bit, not only are they more memorable but genuinely just feel better and more fleshed out. This time around they take a lot more thought due to the mechanics being more complex. I also found that compared to the first game the bosses here were more interesting and left bigger impact on me personally.

This is an early PS2 game so the visuals are not as amazing as later games in the systems lifespan. The graphics for an early PS2 game are impressive, Klonoa and enemies are given black outlines in order to stand out compared to the incredibly detailed backgrounds and impressive constant animations that keep the game fresh and always visually appealing.

The game looks excellent due to all the colours that are always popping and vibrant, giving this world so much charm, this sequel also does a much better job when it comes to world and level design.

The map now is now one which we can walk between different lands and each area represents a different theme, my favourite was the theme park because not only was it fun but it hid plenty of secrets and it’s a level theme we don’t often see represented in games.

The soundtrack was a massive step up here now adding lyrics to the music, all vocals are in Klonoa’s local language so it’s difficult to sing along but this small change does give the soundtrack much more of an impact and is overall much more memorable as a result.

10/10

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (2022)

Finally we have made it to last year’s remake of these games from developer Monkey Craft and published by Namco/Bandai.

The core games very much remain the same here but with HD graphical enhancements and both with cleaned up audio.

New features include costumes for Klonoa, an easier difficulty option, 2 player co-operative and a stop watch mode.

2 players was a bit of a disappointment for modern standards, the second player is able to assist P1 with an assisted jump. I feel that the game would have truly benefited from having a second playable character on screen, maybe players could have used the wind rings to pick up and throw each other as well, similar to the Yoshi series.

Stop watch mode from my knowledge is referencing the new and challenging time trial stages added into the games. These are a welcome addition adding a little more difficulty to what can be considered very easy games.

On top of all this new smooth graphics and a consistent frame rate of 60 helps the game always run flawlessly. I played the Nintendo Switch version which I have heard is the weakest for performance issues however I didn’t find any problem with this port and would still recommend it as an option.

The phantasy reverie series was definitely a pleasant surprise and a overall a neat little package of the two home console games, the added features and performance improvements definitely make this the best way to introduce yourself to this series and I can only hope that games successful launch and high sales means we may get another home console game in the future Bring on Klonoa 3 if it ever happens

Although due to a couple of missed opportunities such as better multiplayer and the inclusion of the GBA games I can’t in all faith give this the same rating as Klonoa 2 however it is still highly recommended as a way to play these games!

9.6/10

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Havana Club: Anejo Especial Cuban Rum Review

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

This lovely rum from Havana Club a Cuban rum company does not have a special bottle that really stands out but the I like the design of the sticker on the front and an important note to take from the sticker is that the rum has been double aged in oak barrels.

The back of the bottle again does not stand out, it has the usual safety information and the percentage of alcohol, in this case the percentage is 40 percent, a description of the rum on the back sticker reads “Aged to perfection and deliciously smooth, Havana Club Anajo Especial is an amber coloured rum with notes of vanilla. To produce such a special rum our Maestro’s del Ron Cubano take their time and age it twice. Our rum’s aromatic intensity comes from the old oak barrels it first rests in and it owes its striking smoothness to a second maturation in younger ex-whiskey casks. Fully rounded and perfectly balanced Especial rum makes the ultimate Cuba libre”

From opening the bottle and pouring the rum into a tumbler you can smell a hint of vanilla but personally I would say an oak smell over empowers it, after letting it breath a while I went in for a sip and the vanilla is definitely stronger than the smell suggests however there is a hint of oak in the flavour, the rum is very smooth and delicate to the taste buds.

I was surprised to not enjoy the rum as much when I mixed it with cola, it was still nice but that lovely flavor was taken over by the cola and it had a slightly odd taste to it, I probably won’t be mixing it in the future.

This is really nice rum that in my opinion tastes better neat and would be really nice with a couple of ice cubes, I was pleasantly surprised with how nice this rum is and I only payed 20 pounds which is a really good price for a rum that is this enjoyable, I will definitely be checking our more from Havana Club in the future.

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Civilization 1-3 (1991-2001) (PC) Review

January 12, 2017January 19, 2017 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

Civilization is one of the most popular strategy games of all time, the series was created by legendary game designer Sid Meier who had already made a name for himself in the game industry before Civilization was released, one of his most popular games was a game called Pirates, I am planning to play through and review all six games (six games as of now) in the main series but with there being so many of them and not too many differences between each version we will be taking a look at three games per review.

Civilization (1991)

256px-civilizationboxart

We begin our look into Civilization with the original game which is often referred too as classic Civ, the goal in Civilization is that you are a world leader who is essentially in complete control over a continent (you choose a race of people before starting the game) I chose to play as the Zulu’s meaning that I was playing as the world leader of Africa, the goal of the game is to try and build as many cities as you can while also being able to maintain the safety and happiness of your people.

frederick_pc_civ1

You will often find that other world leaders may visit your cities offering to make trades of knowledge or money and far too often they will start a war if you refuse these offers, I had particular trouble with Frederick the world leader of Germany, he would often make a peace offering if I gave him knowledge, not much later he would offer to keep peace between our two continents, this kept happening multiple times before I had enough and took over the entirety of Germany so jokes on him.

civ1-3

The game is a lot more complex than it may seem, first of all its your responsibility to see that your continent and people are able to evolve over time as the game takes place over hundreds of thousands of years, you can actually play the game for such a long time that you end up in the space age which is very cool, during the course of the game you will need to send your wise men to research new topics which will allow you to build more useful items such as defenses which surround your cities, the ability to attack over seas and more powerful armies, the game will often give you historically accurate information making it a fairly useful learning tool.

The original Civilization is a great game and a classic that will always stand the test of time, a lot of DOS games were not capable of producing very good sound so the lack of music and audio is not something I feel is fair to complain about, graphically the game is fairly impressive for a DOS game but some parts of the game are much more visually appealing than others but again that could be DOS limitations but I suppose we will see if this improves in the sequel.

7/10

Civilization 2 (1996)

After enjoying the original Civilization I really wanted to enjoy the sequel just as much but to be honest I couldn’t get into it, I realize a lot of people really like this game but I just found it to be really boring and not very interesting at all, for some reason they removed a lot of the small animations the first game had and chose to stick with just text to commemorate you on your achievements, they did however add live action cut-scenes with dialogue if you chose to speak to the advisers or the high council, i couldn’t find any images of this but I will provide a youtube link below showing some of the cutscenes

Another thing that was a great addition was the much easier to use cheat mode, in the original game you could use small cheats to activate certain features including showing the entire world map, in this game you can access all cheats from a click of a mouse and as much as I dont condone to using cheats myself i am sure that some people would enjoy giving themselves a full treasury,unlocking all skills and other special unlockable features.

civilization2-1

Graphically the second game is a massive step up compared to the original, with windows being able to produce more colours and detail the world map is more appealing and more details are shown when you upgrade your cities, I found it very difficult to move my troops around the map, it felt as if the keyboard was confused because every-time I tried to move a player they would usually head off in a different direction and this made it very difficult for me to try and plan my moves appropriately, the game includes the ability to use online multiplayer but I didnt test this as its a very old game which wont run on modern operating systems but hopefully a steam remake will get released at some point as I would like to give this game a second shot with multipayer included

Not a terrible game but its wacky controls and fairly boring design choices made it no where near as enjoyable as the original

4.3/10

Civilization 3 (2001)

After my disappointment with the last game thank god I enjoyed Civilization 3, first of all this installment brought back everything that I missed in the second game, it had great animations, a full cgi opening cutscene, lots of choice for land customization and you can finally play as either males or females for each race in the game, not only that but as well as the usual Civ game mechanics Civ 3 tops both previous installments by adding online multiplayer (that works) and challenge modes.

One thing I didn’t like about the gameplay in Civ 3 was the lack of player support on the lower difficulty settings, the other games both gave you advisors that would help guide the player step by step through the matches and I found that the support although complicating did help teach me the main mechanics of a Civ game, in Civ 3 this was still available but the player needed to seek out the advice by speaking to each advisor individually and it was very daunting

The graphics are outstanding, the game uses an art style that looks as if you are playing on a painted canvas, as per usual the game is shown from a birds eye view and the visuals really help it seem as if the player is looking at a physical world map, the animations from the NPC’s are smooth and simple which honestly is all you need in a game like this

the soundtrack is very good here, I complained that I was annoyed with the lack of ingame music in Civ 2 but in Civ 3 the music is relaxing to listen too and is not on a constant loop so you can enjoy a large variation of music tracks during your long Civ games.

Civilization 3 is the best Civ game out of the first three in the series and for what it provides it is worthy of its £2.99 steamprice, however this is not the best Civ game for new players, I give that title to the original for its simple design and much more useful advisors who advise the player without needing to be asked.

7.8/10

I had a blast playing these old Civ games, out of these three which is your favourite and do you agree with my opinion on the games so far? Hopefully it won’t be long until we are reviewing the next three games but until then.

Thanks for reading

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